Front Sight CCW critique

Course date: May 7th, 2013
Course Type: 30-state CCW
Range Master: J. Scott Hoerner
Range Number: 3 / Classroom / Tent
Professionalism and friendliness of the staff: Each of the staff members with whom I dealt was friendly and professional.
Comments about specific instructors or staff members: Scott Hoerner not only presented the required material well, he seemed also to know lots of other CCW-related information. This came out as he fielded questions during the classroom segment, as he seemed effortlessly to be able to address just about every issue — germane or tangential — that came up.
Quality of the course curriculum: Excellent. No issues.
Efficiency, logistics, and administration of the course: Good. There’s a lot of information and a lot of paperwork, so logistics are going to be problematical at best.
By the way, the blonde lady at the Sheriff’s office looked as though she was on her last nerve on Tuesday afternoon when I was there. Her passport photo camera was giving her fits (or the connection to the computer, or something), and her fingerprint machine was accepting only about 50 percent of the scans she did with me. If you guys have any extra money in the budget, I recommend you consider a donation to the local Sheriff’s office for an equipment upgrade to make things go more smoothly. Failing that, maybe take her some flowers or doughnuts or something, every once in awhile. She really looked frayed.
Welcome, sign-in, and weapons inspection on the first morning: Excellent. No issues.
Classroom lectures and video presentations: Excellent. No issues.
Pro shop staff, inventory, and efficiency: I popped in for about 90 seconds to buy the Student Lecture Notes and Defensive Handgun (Dry) Practice Guide, so I didn’t spend any time evaluating the rest of the pro shop. However, the staff seemed friendly, with a desire to be helpful.
Physical facilities: As before, the Front Sight facility exceeded my expectations. Job well done.
Overall course rating (1-10): Overall, I would rate Front Sight’s 30-state CCW course a ten out of ten.
Things I wish had been made clearer: I did not receive the paperwork to let me know that after matriculating from the course I would have to hustle to get from Front Sight to the Sheriff’s office with a money order for fingerprinting and photos.
Things I thought could have been better: It’s too bad you can dovetail this class better with the Sheriff’s department, to make it easier for course attendees to complete the Nevada portion of the CCW process. The people who process applications for the Sheriff’s department can only handle a relatively few applicants in the afternoon between the end of the class at Front Sight and when they close the office for the evening. Lots of Front Sight CCW graduates arrived too late to be processed that afternoon, which means either they have to stay over until the next day, come back later, or forego applying for the permit. A Sheriff’s department "CCW-processing sub-station" at Front Sight (with some way of obtaining a money order) would seem to be a tremendous boon to Front Sight graduates.

Other comments

The staff and cottage accommodations at Wine Ridge RV Resort are much better than those at Saddle West Casino. Thanks for linking up with them.
Congratulations, too, on connecting the Stockpile Ammunition. I was able to stop by their new location the day before my four-day class started, and the staff there was friendly and knowledgeable.

Note: The pre-requisite for the Front Sight CCW course is that you must have just completed one of their four-day handgun courses.

Greg Raven, Apple Valley, CA